Dumanis again pledges not to 'double dip,' says she will forsake pay if elected county supervisor

Former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis held a meeting with reporters on Wednesday to say she will not accept a salary if elected to the Board of Supervisors, and never intended to.

Her pledge reiterared something said two weeks ago by her campaign consultant, after The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that she hired lawyers to lobby pension officials to keep receiving her $268,800 annual pension should she be elected to the board in June.

Dumanis said she had nothing to do with a new law allowing elected officials to continue collecting a pension if elected to a governing body of the same agency.

Bonnie Dumanis, the former judge and district attorney now running for county supervisor, invited reporters to her campaign strategist’s office on Wednesday to state that she does not intend to accept a salary if she wins, and never did.

Dumanis, 66, who retired as San Diego County district attorney in July and collects an annual pension of $268,800, said she hired a team of lawyers to lobby pension officials so she could keep receiving monthly benefits but accept no salary from a seat on the Board of Supervisors. She made a similar pledge when running unsuccessfully for San Diego mayor in 2012.

“I feel my retirement is sizeable, which is exactly what I said when I ran for mayor, and I didn’t feel comfortable taking additional monies from the county for doing the work when they’re paying me already not to work at all,” Dumanis said. “So I could be sipping margaritas on the beach or I could be doing the job that I think I can really make a difference, and I am not going to take the salary and never have intended and have always told people that.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported last month that Dumanis had hired attorneys to lobby the pension system in favor of permitting her to retain her retirement benefits if she is seated as a county supervisor.

The report relied on 80-plus pages of exchanges between pension officials and Dumanis’ lawyers throughout last year. None of the records stated that the candidate was seeking to avoid collecting a county salary and pension at the same time — a practice long criticized as “double-dipping.”

In fact, the county records repeatedly refer to the salary that Dumanis would be expected to receive.

Dumanis did not personally address the issue for the story last month. Campaign strategist Jason Roe said the longtime prosecutor never planned to accept the $172,000 annual salary if she wins even though the candidate had not stated as much publicly.

“It’s the first time anyone’s asked,” Roe wrote in a Jan. 26 email.

Dumanis and Roe subsequently provided private communications between herself and her attorneys discussing the candidate’s intention to forsake the salary in favor of keeping her pension.

The Union-Tribune filed a California Public Records Act request last month with the county pension system seeking copies of any documents to or from Dumanis referring to the candidate’s intention to work without a salary if elected to the Board of Supervisors. Pension officials on Monday responded, saying there were no such records.

Asked on Wednesday why there were no such documents, Dumanis said her intention was communicated verbally. She said she made it clear to pension officials — and donors while she was raising money for the campaign — that she would not accept a salary if elected.

“There doesn’t need to be anything in the public record,” Dumanis said. “I always told people that. It’s clear for the record that that was my intent.

“I spoke in person to members of SDCERA and argued my position that I should be able to take my pension and not take the salary.”

Pressed on why she never stated publicly that she would work without a salary if elected, Dumanis said she made a tactical decision to wait because the campaign has not yet gotten into high gear.

“I do not have a campaign that is reflected yet,” she said. “(I’ve been) raising money and getting endorsements. When I begin my real campaign before the public, I will do that — or if anyone asks, I will tell them.”

In a follow-up story posted earlier this month, the Union-Tribune reported that Dumanis paid her lawyers with $2,500 of campaign contributions, and owed another $3,100. The candidate said Wednesday those expenses of campaign funds were legal and appropriate.

Records show Dumanis first contacted pension officials early last year, asking how she could preserve her retirement benefits if she won a seat on the Board of Supervisors.

Pension lawyers responded that the practice was not legal, and if she were elected she would have to be reinstated into the county pension system and her monthly retirement checks would stop for as long as she served.

After Gov. Jerry Brown in September signed legislation that permitted Dumanis and others to collect a salary and pension concurrently, Dumanis’ lawyers contacted pension officials to alert them to the change in law. The retirement system wrote back agreeing that Dumanis could now receive both payments.

“That is good news for our client,” Dumanis attorney Marissa Morimoto replied in an October email. “Thank you for letting us know.”

Asked why her attorneys would appear in the public record to be arguing for her to receive a salary and pension at the same time, Dumanis said they were appropriately pursuing every legal avenue available.

Dumanis said Wednesday she had nothing to do with the legislation being introduced or signed into law.

Dumanis, a Republican, is facing Democrats Nathan Fletcher, Omar Passons, Ken Malbrough and Lori Saldaña, among others, on the June ballot. Unless someone receives more than 50 percent of the ballots cast, the top two vote-getters will compete in a November runoff.